Real Estate and the Lake Powell Pipeline Part 3

Tonight Channel 2, KUTV, news out of Salt Lake ran a story on the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline.

In the news this time for the latest cost figures released by the Utah Division of Water Resources, the project grows more controversial each month.

Eric Millnis, UDWR spokesman, said the hydropower-assisted project will top $1 billion, nearly double an estimate made three years ago, to match new prices for materials including steel and general construction.

The agency’s cost estimate doesn’t include years of debt service on government bonds, which critics say will make the project unaffordable for ordinary water users.

The state has filed for approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and hopes to have the pipeline complete by 2020. However, with growing concerns of cost and feasibility time will tell if the project sees the light of day.